6 hours

6 hours is how much time employees planned to devote to holiday shopping from a work computer or mobile device in 2010-down from 14 hours in 2009.

In holiday season 2010, employees were expected to spend less time shopping online while at work than in years past. The bad news? They were more likely to shop during company time using their mobile devices, which may present an increased security risk to their organizations, according to a > survey from the ISACA formally known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. Beyond security, the loss of productivity due to this activity will cost companies thousands of dollars, ISACA reports. "Digital natives are comfortable with blurring the lines between work and play, which poses new and interesting management challenges for their employers," says Robert Stroud, international vice president of ISACA. Stroud is also a "service management and governance evangelist" at CA Technologies. "This generation is happy to use their own tablet computer at work or use a work-supplied smart phone for shopping or updating Facebook. So they need a new kind of IT security policy - one that balances access and control." At the very least, CIOs and other managers must ensure that their employees keep "best practices" in mind as they click and shop, such as using a privacy-screen shield on mobile devices. Or, avoiding the opening an unfamiliar e-mail with a "too good to be true" offer. More than 2,800 U.S. consumers took part in the survey. Another related survey was conducted using results in which more than 830 ISACA members in the U.S. took part. Here are selected highlights from the research: